Vehicular Air Pollution and Urban Sustainability

An Assessment from Central Oxford, UK

verfasst von: Mary J. Thornbush

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : SpringerBriefs in Geography

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik"

Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhalten

Über dieses Buch

This Brief examines the impact of the Oxford Transport Strategy in central Oxford as a means of assessing the effect of reduced traffic congestion in the city centre on its sustainability. Air pollution (from vehicular traffic) has been monitored at three locations in central Oxford on the High Street, St Aldates and St Ebbes (background monitoring station). There is a further monitoring site situated in East Oxford, but this one is not considered to be central. Based on long-term monitoring at these monitoring stations, a deliberation of urban sustainability is presented. Implications are considered for long-term planning and green design in particular is part of the discussion. More specifically, urban greening strategies are presented as (soft engineering) approaches to controlling air pollution problems at this urban location. In the context of low carbon cities, green walls are assessed as they affect urban greening and energy conservation, as they enhance insulation on the exterior of solid wall buildings. Urban sustainability is best monitored using decades of data rather than just years. The Oxford Transport Strategy (OTS) was implemented in central Oxford, UK in 2001 and now a record of at least a decade of monitoring data is available for such a longer-term assessment. This work revisits the OTS from long after its implementation in the Oxford city centre and specifically examines the impact of reduced traffic congestion on sustainability. This includes address of traffic congestion, air pollution (from vehicular or traffic pollution) and the effects on the urban environment, including buildings. In parallel to this, the role of urban vegetation is considered as a sink for a variety of pollutants. Green walls, as part of urban greening, have implications for low carbon cities in the context of urban heat islands and global warming.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction

Abstract

In this introductory chapter, the author addresses the need for sustainability approaches that adopt a long-term standpoint in city planning and design. Furthermore, transdisciplinary approaches are encouraged to improve links between the traditional disciplines, from an academic perspective, as well as to promote collaboration between non-academics involved in the development of cities. Top-down approaches to urban governance have often been adopted, as with European frameworks leading European cities. Air pollution regulations have targeted air quality in cities spurred by a concern for human and environmental health. The OTS represents one of these initiatives to improve environmental conditions in the Oxford city centre. As such, it is the chief case study presented in this brief, and will be revisited in more detail in the next chapter. This chapter conveys the rationale for this work, and presents the longitudinal approach adopted in this volume.

Mary J. Thornbush

Chapter 2. The OTS in Central Oxford

Abstract

Details are provided in this chapter about the implementation of the OTS and its initial findings. The EMITS project is presented as a measure of success of the OTS, including the achievement of its core aims. The brief focusses on environmental health as assessed using outputs from EMITS. Here, its three strands are relayed, along with details of the buildings monitoring programme, which was central to evaluating environmental health based on air quality and building measures. Findings based on publications by the author are conveyed in this chapter, focussing first upon the assessment of buildings as indicators of environmental health in the Oxford city centre.

Mary J. Thornbush

Chapter 3. Reduced Traffic Congestion and Air Pollution

Abstract

The OTS had an environmental impact associated with reduced car traffic and improved air quality, particularly of SO₂ and carbon monoxide (CO). The effect on reductions in atmospheric pollutants and improved air quality is explored in this chapter. By examining records of change associated with specific traffic records and mean annual measures of pollutants, including NO₂, oxides of nitrogen (NO_X), SO₂, CO, ozone (O₃), and particulate matter (PM₁₀), it is possible to relate trends over 15 years (between 1997 and 2012) and evaluate the impacts on buildings. Specifically, this study reveals that the soiling building surfaces was reduced following the OTS and that building decay features stabilised. This occurred when there were also reduced levels of traffic on some streets and improved air quality (at Oxford Centre, High Street, and generally at St. Ebbes) in the Oxford city centre. Reduced concentrations of all measured pollutants (except O₃ at the urban background site, with the least reductions in NO₂ and PM₁₀ and greatest reductions in NO_X, SO₂, and CO) indicate a cleaner urban atmosphere since the OTS. As O₃ was the only traffic pollutant that was slightly increased in the post-OTS atmosphere, its impact on building stone merits more research.

Mary J. Thornbush

Chapter 4. Implications for Urban Sustainability

Abstract

Recent developments are considered here in terms of the built environment and ways to ensure steps towards urban resilience through the mitigation of human-derived greenhouse gases (GHGs). Oxford building stone (and its buildings), in the aftermath of the OTS, are considered within a contextual framework of planning, urban design, and transport. Drawing from the broader literature, these topics are discussed from different parts of the world, with an emphasis on developed nations as leaders in climate-change mitigation through low-carbon urbanism.

Mary J. Thornbush

Chapter 5. Further Pollution Reduction

Abstract

Urban planning has defined urban space as separate from rural land use and the countryside. Cities are covered in cement (concrete) and tarmac up to the urban-rural fringe. Greenery is typically associated with the surrounding countryside or greenbelt area, where vegetation cover encapsulates the extent of the built environment. This notion of urban land use that excludes greenery needs to change in order to promote (and achieve) a fully integrated mitigation-adaptation approach to global warming. By introducing urban greening, it is possible to employ vegetation as a soft-engineering strategy that can be naturally and cheaply deployed as a CSS. This green movement is already being stimulated in cities by recent architectural requirements and designs that include, for instance, grass roofs and rooftop gardens. In this chapter, recent findings addressing urban agriculture are presented and specifically discussed. The literature conveys a growing interest in this mitigation-adaptation approach, and recommendations are made (as possible solutions) for its adoption in developed cities. This contributes to an understanding of the contemporary role of urban vegetation and its function (as a carbon sink, and more) within urban contexts, and this is relevant for any deliberation of Oxford’s history of green walls and impacts on pollution abatement through urban greening.

Mary J. Thornbush

Chapter 6. Energy Conservation

Abstract

This chapter reviews the literature mainly of recent developments in urban greening. By incorporating more greening in cities, it is possible to capture and store carbon. In this way, vegetation acts as a soft-engineering strategy that can be cheaply deployed to achieve low-carbon cities. This can be performed in different ways, as through façade greening (as with the use of climbing plants), grassed roofs (including extensive green roofs), and roof gardens. Here, all of these methods of urban greening are considered with respect to their ecological functions and benefits. Thermoregulation is one of the many impacts of vegetated surfaces (through the provision of shade and insulation), including green walls. In addition to urban microclimatic control, there are also recognised (environmental) benefits of air filtration and purification, storm-water retention, and more. The research conveys urban greening as an effective mitigation-adaptation tool for climate change, acting also to improve urban climate, including the UHI effect and wind tunnelling in cities, as well as urban pollution more generally. The benefits of green roofs and façade greening are especially considered for urban greening before presenting a critical evaluation of the literature.

Mary J. Thornbush

Chapter 7. Implications

Abstract

In this chapter, the growing body of literature on the decarbonisation of cities is examined within the context of reducing UHIs and the mitigation of anthropogenic climatic warming. Relevant themes in the areas of governance and policy, urban energy infrastructure, and development and social justice are presented. These topics are addressed from the integrated (multidisciplinary) approach of cities undergoing a sociotechnical transformation to low-carbon.

Mary J. Thornbush

Chapter 8. Conclusions

Abstract

In this final chapter, the subtopical areas addressed in this brief are revisited, effectively connecting air pollution, urban greening, and energy conservation for low-carbon cities. The UHI effect is approached along with land use in the context of anthropogenic climate warming. As part of the transformation to low-carbon cities, Oxford is presented in the aftermath of the OTS, with an emphasis on transport, traffic pollution, (environmental) health, and urban sustainability.

Mary J. Thornbush

Titel: Vehicular Air Pollution and Urban Sustainability
verfasst von: Mary J. Thornbush
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-20657-8
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-20656-1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20657-8